Western mercenaries linked to UAE-based companies were deployed to Libya to back up eastern commander Khalifa Haftar in his assault on the UN-recognised government, a new confidential UN report has revealed.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has asked the commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagal, to urgently send 1200 fighters to Libyan frontlines to support warlord Khalifa Haftar’s ongoing war in southern Tripoli and western Sirte, The Libya Observer has learned.

The United Kingdom and the United States on Tuesday urged Russia to stop sending mercenaries to the conflict in Libya, after a recent United Nations report confirmed the presence of Russian and Syrian fighters in the country.

Seventeen attacks have been recorded since January against health facilities in Tripoli and its suburbs, the scene of deadly fighting for over a year, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya has said.

While Washington has been accusing Moscow of inflaming the conflict in war-torn Libya by sending mercenaries to fight on behalf of strongman Khalifa Hifter, signs have been emerging that Russia is increasing contacts with the Hifter-aligned eastern-based parliament at the expense of Hifter himself.

Details of a dispute between Khalifa Haftar and the Russian private military contractor Wagner Group show financial and military issues unsolved between the two, according to a report by Arabic Post news website.

Seven UN agencies on Wednesday called for a cease-fire in Libya to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus, saying the international community “must not turn a blind eye to the conflict” in the North African nation where 64 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed.

The Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has addressed the Security Council (SC) demanding that it face its responsibilities in maintaining international peace and security, and to condemn Haftar’s glaring illegal attack on Tripoli.

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